Investigative Report Links Spotify Carbon Credits Purchase to Forced Labor Camps in China

A new investigative report has linked Spotify's carbon credit purchases to forced labor camps in Xinjiang, China.
The possible connection between Spotify and allegations of forced labor, specifically referring to work performed by Uighur Muslims in the city in question, emerged today in an article Guardian's in-depth coverage. The Chinese government’s genocide of the Uyghur people – including but not limited to the aforementioned arbitrary detention sentences, “re-education” programs and forced labor – has been in the spotlight since long.
Meanwhile, a company in Zurich called South Pole sells carbon credits that are said to offer businesses a way to support transparent, high-impact climate action around the world by offsetting their emissions through various environmental initiatives, according to the company's Internet page.
Last month, Antarctica was the subject of an unflattering New Yorker investigative report titled "The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle," which claimed, among other things, that "the Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle" largest company in the market sold millions of credits for carbon. ” the reduction is not real. Following this detailed article, the CEO of Antarctica resigned last Friday. With these pertinent details, the Guardian highlighted that the “Bachu carbon project” will focus “on a biomass power plant in Xinjiang, China”.

And according to the multifaceted story and research by Follow the Money in the Netherlands, the so-called Antarctic deception may also have extended to the Bachu power station. In particular, Antarctica initially indicated that the program would create a source of income for “local farmers who collect cotton stalks and burn them to produce carbon-neutral electricity. ”

But the Guardian and Follow the Money have identified “potentially forced labor transfers”, involving “hundreds of people” near the project. Antarctica itself is said to have stopped selling the credits (after first offering them to its customers in 2014) following "due diligence issues" raised in 2021. However, before Meanwhile, Spotify is said to be among the organizations (in addition to the World Wide Fund for Nature, BP, Hilton and others) that have purchased some of the Bachu project's questionable credits. The music streaming giant reportedly withdrew its support in 2020. Scholar Adrian Zenz, widely considered one of the leading experts on the Chinese government's mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, has discovered evidence of two forced labor farms that existed more than ten years, right near the Bachu project.
“Really, the bigger question is: how can the world's largest carbon consulting firm, focused on *ethical* practices, think it is possible to do anything ethical in an area where genocide is taking place. » Zenz explained this on Twitter/X today. “There is something fundamentally wrong with the global corporate system. »

At the time of writing, Spotify appears to have not commented publicly on its participation in a carbon credit system based on forced labor. However, South Pole stated that it “never physically owned or managed this project,” which allegedly limited its “ability to gather detailed, real-time information. ”

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